Mine-shaft gate



March 3, 1931. w. ca. JOHNSON MINE SHAFT GATE Filed Feb. 12', 1930 sSheets-Sheet 1 March 3, 1931. w. G. JOHNSON MINE SHAFT GATE Filed Feb.12, 1930 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 March 3, .1931. w, JOHNSQN l;794,712

MINE SHAFT GATE Filed Feb. 12, 1930 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Mar.3,1931

"WILLIAM G. JOHNSON, or rrr'rs'ron', TPENNSYLVAN'IA 1 IN SHAFT GATE:

' llp'pli cet i on ii'lea Febiuary 12,15550. s eam. 427,913.

The objeet ofthis inveiition 'is to provide afininesha'ft landing witha' gate epp'argttns ivhieh complies with the present Thine safety lawsofthe State of Pennsylvania, and, in

E6 {i'ursha'ne'e of this object, I provide a 'com- *inedswinging andsliding 'gztte' an'dqneans whereby Whenthe cage descends onto thelanding stops Wliih have been fpi eviously set hy'hand by a er on at thelanding), the

"10 gate wil l be automatically. raised to openiposition, means beingalso; provided whereby itjW'iH beinnpossihl'e to swing the 'g'atetoopenposition unless thecage is at lending (1 the lending-stops ere adjustedto lnope'rative 15 position, as no 'e 'fu lly herei after set forth.

' In the drawingdnnexed 1 F "l 'sfa'fsideelevationshowing-the cageresting on the landing-stops;

Fig. Q i'sedetailsideelevation of part of the gate-locking device; 'i yy 3 .is A side elevation tztken at .right angles to thei ieW shown inFig,

Figs. 4 aud t) are views of details hereinaiter' described; t j

Fig; 6 is a plan v-iewfthe vertical posts be ing in horizontal seetion';o V Fig. I7 is 'a horizontal section taken on the 11 77T of Fig. iReferring to the Chewing annexed by refei'ence-ehai a'ctefs, IOdesignates the iiooi' of the cage which is adapted to *eone'e to l e'stilp'onflztndinoi-stop's '11 whenisti'di stops are manually adjusted intop'os1t1on't0stopthe Cage; these stops being plyo'tdli'y s ported attheir lowei e'dges andbeing' afdqipted to he swung inw a l-dlyinto thepath oftheea'sle and ontwargd ly *aii a-yyfl om the path of the catjebythefoll'owing lever mechanism:

Att'ziohed to e achfof the iandin'gstops is a. link 12, one of Which-isatteehedto the iow er end of alever' l3 and the other 'of which isattached "to s'zii'd level-I13 at a point above its lower end. Theupjver end offthe lever 13' is connected to a, pu'sh-n 'ilirod 14. theouter end of which is provided with :i suit-able handle to enable themain tttthe landin to manuil-lj adjfu st tlie 'landing stops into amiont bf operti-ve os tion. I

One oftheianding-stonsis connected by Mink lia-to an 1 6 rigidly secured"te a Vefti'ezfl i'otativ'e slotted tube 1 7 which I stands banal-lei'tofthe 'line of movement of "the Cage, Vithin this rotet'zilile tube 17is arranged'e sliding weight 18 which carries-a trigger 1'9, thistriggerbeing pivo'telly moi'lnted'at 20 in i1 weftical siot'2l formed in theWeight and being long enough "to project inwardly 'fm enough to lie'in'th'e path of the cage When the ttibe 'l'i is given "a; q arterrotation. fivh'ei i the lending-stopsareedj Listed to'stopping-position, as shown inFifg. 1 ,"the link 15 "will rotate tube farenonghtoposition the trigger 1 9 inthe pet hoitjt he descending Cage,and when the cage strikes the trigger position'sho'w'n'in dotted linesin Fig. Lend this downwardinovein'ent of the Weight x'yill raise asliding gate 22 through the medium 7 of 'H chain 23, one end 01 whichextends downwardly i'n'to'th'e upper end of tube 17 and thfltjfiilel?end of which is suitably eonn'ected to' the gate. At itsswingingend, thegate is hinged to {a Vertical 'p'intle post 24; by i'i'l'eans ofhinge-straps 2'5; the straps being adaptedto freely slide lip and downon the Pally raise the gate to open'position, as Shown in djottediiiiesii'i Fig, 3. y 1

fivhi l'e the two guide-i1'one26. 27 are in (LPGlfiLiliVG position,'assilox'vn in full lines in Fig, "1:, theoutei end, naino'ly, '27,pi'events the gate swinging-to open "position 'on hinges,but, whenthe'lnnd'ingstops 11 are adj u sted {to inoperative position, said Outerguide-iron 27wi-11be edjn'sted' to inoperative position, e, in positionto laerinit the gate to freely swing open. To do this, I pivot theIip'pe'r'e'nd of the guide-iron 1328 and connect the-guifie-iron at a,point below its up; per end by means a link 29/00 the upper, end of alever 30 which is pivoted at 31 and has its lower endpiyo'i'ally.coiineeted to'the afer'esai'd push pel l rod 114, sothatfithen said Wing-stops are adjusted to a position for stopping the cage, it will beimpossible to swing the gate open, whereas, when these stops areadjusted to inoperative position, the gate will be free to swing open onits hinges.

F or cushioning the fall of the gate, I may nection with the presentinvention, I may also use the gate-locking device shown in my formerPatent 1,143,766, June 22, 1915, except that in the present instance thelever designated /1 in said patent and numbered 83 in this case is notpermanently connected to the gate, as otherwise it would be impossiblefor the gate to slide up and down. In the present instance, this lever33 is arranged to slidingly engage the face of a plate 34 fastened tothe gate and formingpreferably' an extension of one of the straps 25, sothat, while the gate is down, in closed position, the lever 33 willalways bear against the face of this plate 34 and thus prevent the gatebeing swung open unless the elevator is at the landing and has unlockedthe locking device set forth in said patent. To automatically swingtheigate to closed position, I may attach a weight 35 by means of achain to one of the locking-bars of the locking apparatus, as shown inFig. 7. The advantage of pivoting the trigger 19 and the weight is thatit may be foldedup into the slot when the weight is dropped down intothe tube, and another advantage is that,

should the trigger be set in operative posi-- tion accidentally whilethe cage is pasing upwardly in the shaft, the trigger will freely swingupwardly to aposition out of the way so as to thereby avoid injuring themechanism. It will. be obvious that the gate-actuating mechanism may beduplicated on the opposite side of the shaft where a two-gate landing isdesired.

It will. be observed that the trigger 19 is pivoted oif center so thatit tends normally to swing down to a horizontal position this isadvantageous in that it is desirable at all times to have this triggerin operative position except during the time the apparatus is beingassembled. It willbe observed also that the arrangement of thegate-lifting chain 23 and the pulleys over which it runs is such thatwhen the gate is swung open on its hinges this lifting chain will liftthe weight 18; this is advantageous in that this weight 18 will thus bebrought into action to assist the weight 35 in normally closing thegate.

In accordance with the provisions of the patent statutes, I have hereindescribed the principle of operation of my invention, together with theapparatus which I now consider to represent the best embodimentsthereof, but I desirev to have it understood that the apparatusdisclosed is only illustrative and that the invention can be carried outby other means. Also, while it is designed to use the variousfeatures'and elements in the combinations and relations described, someof these may be altered and others omitted and some of the features ofeach modification may be embodied in the others without interfering withthe more general results outlined, and

I j the invention extends to such use. use a coil-spring 32, shown 111Fig. 2. In con- What I claim as new is:

1. In a safety-gate apparatus for mineshafts, a combined swinging andsliding gate, means actuated by'a descending cage for raising said gateto open position, and means for locking said gate against swinging toopen position when said raising mechanism is put into action. V i

' 2. In a safety, mine gate apparatus, a gate adapted to slide upwardlyto open position and also to swing on hinges to open position,cage-stopping devices and manual means for putting them into operativeposition to'stop the cage at a landing, automatic devices for raisingthe gate to open position asthe cage descends onto said stops, thisautomatic mechanism being adjusted to operative posltion when saidstopsare adjusted to operative position, and meanswhereby when said stops areput into operative position the gate will be locked against swinging.open and when said stops are adjusted to inoperative position said gatewill be released for operation on its hinges.

3. In a safety-gate appliance for mineshafts, a combined sliding andswinging gate, the free edge/of the gate being guided betweenguide-irons, one of which is pivoted so as to be shifted to a positionto free the free edge of the gate to permit it to swing open,

manually-operated means for stopping the cage atthelandmg, and devicesconnected with said means whereby said pivoted guideiron will beactuated to operative position as a guide for the gate when. saidcage-stopping mechanism is put into action.

. 4. In a mine-shaft gate mechanism, a vertically-sliding gate and meansfor raising the gate as the cage descends to the landing embodyingavertical rotary tube, a verticallysliding weight in said tube, meansconnecting this weightwith the gate, a trigger adapted to extend intothe path of the descending cage, said trigger being pivotally mountedwithin the weight in such manner as to adapt it to swing upwardly into aslot in the weight.

5. In a safety-gate appliance for miningshafts, avertically-sliding.gate, a pair of cage-stops and manual meansforactuating the same, and means for automatically raising the gate asthe'cage descends embodying arotary Vertical tube actuatedsimultaneously with said stops, a Weight in said tube carrya triggeradapted to be adjusted in the v. path] of the cage When said tube isrotated,

a'chain connected to saidweightextending V up out of its upper end andconnected to the top of the gate to thereby cause said gate to be raisedWhen the trigger and Weight are depressd by the cage. c g

In testimony whereof I hereunto affi'x my signature.

' WILLIAM G. JOHNSON.

